Amending G-6.0106b

Since G-6.0106b was added to the Book of Order in 1997, the issue of its removal or amendment has been on the agenda of almost every subsequent General Assembly. Amendment 08-B, approved by the 218th General Assembly (2008), garnered approval from 78 of the 87 presbyteries required for ratification; that Assembly chose the wording proposed by the Presbytery of Boston from among five choices seeking to make the Presbyterian Church (USA) more welcoming, and one that intended to be more restrictive.  When the 219th GA meets this July in Minneapolis, there will be twelve overtures to amend the controversial paragraph.  Again, one aims to underline the message that persons in same-gender partnerships are not welcome as officers in the PCUSA;   eleven will offer options to remove discriminatory treatment of LGBT persons who are called to serve the church. Most of the overtures seem to have drawn inspiration from Amendment 08-B, including 046 from Beaver-Butler, which purports to "give broader but specific scope to the ordination standards."  The "specific scope":

Foremost among these standards are the New Testament Epistolary ethical requirements for ordained officers of ministry, which include but are not limited to chastity in singleness and fidelity in monogamous, heterosexual marriage.

The language that follows Amendment 08-B most closely was submitted by the Presbytery of Detroit, 017, with concurrences from Genesee Valley and Santa Fe.  Overture 067 from Heartland has identical wording for G-6.0106b but omits one of the other changes in 017 (in G-14.0240).  The overtures from Albany (052) and National Capital (078) are similar, though somewhat shorter. The overtures from the Presbytery of the Western Reserve (030), with concurrences from Giddings-Lovejoy, Mid-Kentucky, and Heartland, and Chicago (061) both begin with an affirmation that ordination standards have as their foundation "the church's desire to submit joyfully to Jesus Christ in all aspects of life."   Southern New England (041) joins them in beginning with Jesus Christ and, like the others above, in citing the constitutional questions for ordination and installation in W-4.4003.Overture 019 from Hudson River, with concurrences from Cayuga-Syracuse and New Hope, expresses this understanding of faithfulness:

Living obediently, we are called to proclaim the Gospel to all peoples, to love neighbor and enemy, and to express the love of Christ in faithful relationships with others. Persons who are ordained and/or installed are nonetheless sinners in need of God’s grace.

The Presbytery of New York City (047) has language that adds one word to the Hudson River paragraph, and Des Moines and East Iowa (065) sound a similar theme yet more briefly.Finally, Hudson River, New York City, and the Redwoods (018) propose simply to delete the current G-6.0106b, with no replacement wording.